Fun with friends

There are just not words enough to write about the need for friends. Life would just be incomplete without those who we consider our near and dear friends. Sometimes its not always what they do for you specifically, but the give and take you give each other. Knowing that you can count on each other, and be there when its truly needed. I don't have recent pictures with all my friends, and there are many that could be pictured, this weekend I was able to go visit my friend Monica and we both happened to be wearing our matching shirts she made for us at Christmas time. It was quite comical because we looked like little kids matching. But we laughed it off, and decided to take pictures to honor our event.

"A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else."

"A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself."

The outdated system of writing checks

I was waiting in line to pay for my new back door at Lowe's the other night. I was waiting in the only line with a cashier, and I was quite anxious to leave as Lowe's is not exactly a store I care to spend great time in. I get up to the line and there is only one gentleman in front of me, however this man is not paying in the simple cash or charge version, he is using the now seeminly outdated Check system. It made me think of a blog that Ellen Degeneres wrote and I may have shared this before, but it makes me chuckle every time.

"I went to the grocery store this weekend to buy some sundries, and something horrific happened. I got caught in line behind a woman who paid with a check. That's pure torture. I thought I was on "Punk'd." Who pays with a check anymore? I never do. I only use my American Express card. (wink) Writing out a check could not take longer. First of all, they don't even get the checkbook out until everything's bagged. Then they have to look at the driver's license, get a manager's approval, stamp it, put it in the special drawer... sacrifice a goat. It takes forever. Then they take out their register and balance their checkbook before they leave. "Let's see, carry the one, take away the nine, add the four..." Even when I used checks, I didn't record them. I just waited for them to bounce and then I knew how much I spent. And if you make a mistake, then you have to void it and start over, or put your initials on it to make it "legal." Is that really legal? How do they know who wrote the initials? It's just two capital letters. Unless you're Prince. Then it's just the one; "P." Maybe that's why he changed his name to that symbol for a while. Harder to forge. I'll bet he has purple checks... with rain on them. Purple Rain checks. Some people take the time to write in the "memo" line. That's so when they get their canceled checks back, they can remember what they were for. "To the LAPD. LAPD? What's this for? (look down to memo line) Ah, yes... bail. Lucky there's that memo line. I thought it was a reminder section. Like, if you write a check to your plumber. In the memo section you can put, "Remember to wear a belt next time you fix my sink."

Britney's controversal song

It was a Monday evening. Approximate time? 7:30 p.m. I was on my way home from the grocery store when Britney Spears' new song came on the radio. I loved it...although I found it odd. Who is this Amy person and why is Britney so anxious about her? Is it a lesbian thing? Or is Amy going to kick her butt?

Oh, who cared? I liked the song so I downloaded it to my computer and put it on my MySpace. I must have listened to the song 25 or more times between Monday and Wednesday night. Wednesday night, I was surfing around, looking for something else, when I read a mention of Britney's controversial new song.

Controversial? Why? Maybe THIS was the key to why the song made no sense to me.

The song, If U Seek Amy, the posted the video below (hoping it doesn't become obsolete by the end of the day). Parents are calling for it not to be played during the time kids might be listening because kids will somehow be corrupted by hearing this song?

No, they won't. Unless you TELL them it's controversial.

You'll figure it out now that I've told you there's a message here but hearing it fresh, who sits and pieces together that something like this is dirty? The lyrics go: "All of the boys and all of the girls are begging to If You Seek Amy."

Think about it a second. I'll wait...

Of course, it's all over for the Britney song now. Parents are freaking out, the press is all over it, and word is spreading like wildfire in every elementary school this side of the border. Britney's song will, of course, be a huge hit because everyone will have to hear it. Everyone will have to see the video too, because of Britney's ample bosom, not to mention all of the boys and all of the girls begging to If You See K- Britney.

Got it yet?

Here's the video. You know you wanna watch! Its such a catchy song, why did everyone have to ruin it for me by telling me what her hidden message was?

What kind of woman are you?

Lovely Lady

You are lovely and caring. You help others and spread out a lot of sympathy. Your life aim maybe is to serve the people. But your weakness is that you forget about yourself, your own needs. All your time is hold back for your friends and family. You are always there for people in trouble. Ready for any emergency. You make a lot of sacrifices just to be a good human. But every woman has her needs, her longings and a destiny. Don't lose yourself in work or curing other people's souls. You will have your own problems in your life. Another problem is that you don't say your opinion when it's right and important to say it. People trample onto your soul if you are always so kind and lovely and helpful. They will play on you. Though you should try to relax more and enjoy your life, you should not lose the gift that was given to you to help others . Not everyone is created this way... You are unique and rare!

Life update

So many things have been going on in my life, but none I found warranted their own blog, so I just thought I would write sort of an update on things so far.
So I was offered that position with my company to be the director of nursing however after cooperate reviewed the information and checked with the states requirements they couldn't give me that position due to the fact that I have never been a charge nurse. And apparently the position is also an alternate administrator in case our administrator was gone for any reason. So im going to continue with the job that I have and they are going to continue to look for a person for that position. If for some reason they don't find a person to fill that position, after I have been here for a year then I am eligible. So far I have been here 2 months, so that's a ways away lol.
On the 7th I got to go to a mavericks game with my roommate Melissa which was a lot of fun. They played the Washington Wizards and the mavs creamed them. LOL

Then this last Sunday my friend Kristen was in town. She moved away several years ago and then got married and so its been ages since I have seen her. But we got together for dinner at her friends house and she cooked dinner for us. Then we played some guitar hero world tour on her friends boyfriends giant projector screen and then everyone played some pool. It was a blast. Then last night we all went and had dinner at my favorite Japanese place, yes its Jinbeh shocker I know, and then went and saw the movie Taken. That movie was amazing its like a combination of 24 and Alias, both of which I love, so the show was a real hit with me.

I have an addiction

Hi, My name is Rachel and I have an addiction. It has been 5 hours and 20 minutes since I last placed guitar hero. I know sad huh? Its a game, a game I never thought I would be any good at, so I never played. I would watch other play for hours but never once decided to participate...
Many people have spent hours playing guitar hero. People host guitar hero parties. They opt to stay in drink and play the game with their friends instead of going out to the bars. Why the addiction? How does one know when they are addicted?

Every unsuspecting person picks up that controller and starts playing that song. Green, blue, red, yellow. The colors scroll along and your hands learn the natural process of playing along. You feel pride when you get star power and the crowd cheers. You're secretly disappointed in yourself when you fair and the crowd boos you. It just adds insult to injuries.

It started off innocently enough. You were just playing with some friends or family. Just having a fun night in. That's how it started for me 4 weeks ago. And now it seems as though I can't get enough. I want to beat more songs and get a higher score, and I find myself wanted to do that than anything else I could possibly do. Its just so much fun, and I have gotten good at it which makes it all the more fun. I think those years of playing the piano back in the day might help with it some. But who knows, all I know is where I stand, my name is Rachel and im a guitar hero addict.

My first time with a perfect song


Not too bad of a note streak.

Im almost licenced to play with dummies

After 8 hours of videos, questions and fun I am more than half way done with my training to become a CPR instructor. So far all it has cost my company was $400. Funny thing is, that is all I thought it was going to cost. But I guess I was wrong. Just those silly little cards that have to be given out are $4 bucks EACH, then I need manikins, face mask, student manuals, dvd's to show that are $100 bucks a pop. The money just never stops lol.
Thankfully the long 8 hours were made a lot easier to pass considering that the guy teaching my class was very good looking and he smelled yummy. The fact that I was 2 years older than him and he had a one month old, was not relevant.

How not to do two man CPR

All I have left now is a 2-4 hour computer program to teach you have to be a good instructor then I have a two hour test out. Fun huh? The sad part is I will have to pay $150 bucks every two years to renew. But hey at least thats one more thing I can add to my "skillz"

Bitter Sweet

So my cousin that I blogged about here text me today to tell me that he got engaged. This girl he started dating a little over 4 months ago, who is a year younger than me, which makes her 5 years older than him. While I am beyond happy for him, it just feel"s like I should start singing "Another one bites the dust." I told my Aunt Cindy that it makes me feel like an old loser lol, she told me to join the club. So as I am reading this information via text I was on my way to a clients home and I was listening to my new Kelly Clarkson CD and the song Ready just happened to be playing and the line that says "Im ready now oh I'm ready now Oh I'm ready now come get me" All I could think was THAT'S RIGHT! LOL Blah

This made me laugh

Because I'm a man,
when I lock my keys in the car I will fiddle with a wire long after hypothermia has set in.

Because I'm a man,
when the car isn't running very well, I will pop the hood and stare at the engine as if I know what I'm looking at. If another man shows up, one of us will say to the other, "I used to be able to fix these things, but now with all these computers and everything, I wouldn't know where to start." We will then drink beer.

Because I'm a man,
when I catch a cold, I need someone to bring me soup and take care of me while I lie in bed and moan. You're a woman. You never get as sick as I do, so for you this isn't a problem.

Because I'm a man,
I can be relied upon to purchase basic groceries at the store, like milk or bread. I cannot be expected to find exotic items like 'cumin' or 'tofu'. For all I know, these are the same thing. And never, under any circumstances expect me to pick up anything for which 'feminine hygiene product' is a euphemism.

Because I'm a man,
when one of our appliances stops working, I will insist on taking it apart, despite evidence that this will just cost me twice as much once the repair person gets here and has to put it back together.

Because I'm a man,
I think what you're wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine, too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it looks fine. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now?

Because I'm a man,
I will share equally in the housework. You just do the laundry, the cooking, the gardening, the cleaning, the vacuuming, and the dishes, and I'll do the rest.

You gotta love him

The other day my mom was gone and she had left some ribs she had made the day before. She told Amy to reheat them in the microwave but I guess my dad decided to reheat them in the oven instead. Well he tried to call us all down for dinner, however he came upstairs and saw that I was watching the Bachelor "after the final rose" and he got distracted. He watched about 8 minutes of it and then we went down for dinner only to find that he had left the ribs in a tad too long. We ended up with blackened ribs. They were awful, it was worse than beef jerky. We tried so hard to eat them, but its was very difficult. But we were good sports and we were laughing whole time. That's why my dad doesn't do that cooking.
The last time he tried to cook for us when my mom was out of town he tried to make stew, but he didn't put it in the crock pot long enough. So the vegetables were hard as a rock. He tried speeding up the cooking process by putting the potatoes and carrots in the microwave. I know you are all gagging as we were. It was awful. We still laugh about it to this day.

David loved the burnt ribs lol

My pleasure

I have taken notice that at Chick Fil A when you tell someone working there "thank you" there reponce always seems to be "my pleasure." Just a simple little phrase and yet it really got me thinking. Its not just a normal your welcome, but a my pleasure. And is it really their pleasure? They really love taking my order? So I decided to look it up and find out where this all stemmed from and this is what I found...

Not all fast food chains are fast companies. Chick-fil-A is an exception.
by Chuck Salter

"All too often, top-notch fast-food service is an oxymoron, like having high tea at a NASCAR race. Speed is the top priority, a strategy that produces high volume, but leads to notoriously inconsistent, impersonal, and uninspired interaction with customers.
Chick-fil-A is different. Its staff focuses on being swift and attentive. For the past two years, the Atlanta-based chain was named "best drive-through in America" by the quick-service restaurant trade journal QSR.
President and chief operating officer Dan Cathy infuses everyone from franchise owner-operators to teenagers earning $9 an hour with his passion for service and his conviction in its intrinsic worth -- to the individual as well as the company.
As we noted in our Customers First Award to the company, customer-centered leadership is the cornerstone of Chick-fil-A's service. Here are some of the other ideas that keep its customers coming back:
Mind your manners
At the end of each transaction at Chick-fil-A, you don't hear, "You're welcome," "Glad to help," or "Come back and see us." You hear these two words: "My pleasure." It's distinctive and classy, the sort of service you expect at a much fancier and expensive establishment, like Ritz Carlton, which is where Cathy says his father got the idea.
Cathy loves to add service touches that people don't expect from a fast-food restaurant. His latest is folding the last sheet of toilet paper into a triangular point. He believes it conveys a sense of cleanliness and meticulousness that customers appreciate. When he or one of the operators comes up with a new twist, he promptly sends out a voicemail message to owner-operators at the nearly 1,200 locations."

Im impressed Chick Fil A, way to go the extra notch to stand above the others!

Why do people do this?

My moms friend called me this morning all excited because there is a 35 year old divorcee that has two kids that lives in Colorado and I guess he was asking her if she knew anyone who he could possibly date. Apparently she had originally told him no, she didn't know anyone, but she said this morning at 3am she woke up and realized that she had neglected to think of me. After that she couldn't go back to sleep and at 4 she called her husband to have him call the guy and basically interview him to see if she wanted me to talk to him. So she called me at 830am today right after I had gotten to work to tell me that she wanted to give this guy my email. She even proceeded to tell me what he likes to do for fun, that he makes good money, etc etc. She was so hyper and excited telling me about this. She cracks me up, why do people get so much pleasure playing match maker. And at my expense. Why do I want to email this person? Just cause he is looking for someone so therefore we are a perfect match? I don't think so. *sigh*
People always do that, they assume that because we are both Mormon and are currently not married and our ages our somewhere between 0-10 years from each other we are a match made in heaven. My dad has come home and said oh so and so from the stake presidency has a son that is 30 and is not married. Im like okay, and your point is??? LOL In my experience people my age who are single and have never been married have something wrong with them. Either they are holier than thou peter priesthood or they are the wild child from hell. Thats just the way guys are. The good ones are snatched up. But who am I to turn this guy down. Its a simple email and it won't harm me right?